Unlikely friendships

How Warren Beatty Became a Pallbearer at John McCain’s Funeral

John McCain, Warren Beatty pose with their wives Cindy McCain and Annette Bening at an event in LA on October 1, 2005.

By Kevin Winter/Getty Images.

In the current era of divisive politics, John McCain’s pallbearers may serve as a model for a bipartisan future. Former Democratic vice president Joe Biden; onetime Republican, now independent New York mayor Michael Bloomberg; and famed Hollywood liberal Warren Beatty will be among the pallbearers for the late senator’s memorial this Saturday at the Washington National Cathedral. Beatty may seem like an unlikely addition, but the self-proclaimed “liberal Democrat” and Republican Senator were longtime friends. According to a 2008 piece in The Atlantic, the pair’s friendship goes back before McCain’s 2000 bid for president.

“I think I’ve made it clear that I’m a liberal Democrat,” Beatty told the magazine at the time. “And I have never found that to . . . I consider my friendships to be friendships. Let me say this a better way. I don’t think that political ideology is necessarily germane to friendships.”

At one point in 2005, Beatty told The New Yorker that John Kerry had hoped Beatty could possibly convince McCain to serve as his running mate. According to speechwriter Mark Salter, McCain reportedly told Kerry, “If you’re hit by a lightning bolt and I become president, the people who voted for you will feel betrayed.”

“I thought he might do it,” Beatty said at the time. “Of course, I’m a fantasist by trade. With John’s personality, he would be able to say what he wanted to say, and to do quite a bit. Whether that would be good for John Kerry was less clear.”

In 2008, The Atlantic called Beatty to discuss a rumor that claimed McCain had told the actor that he had voted for Kerry instead of the candidate he campaigned for, George W. Bush. Beatty was quick to dismiss the claim.

“It seems to me that the reason why people are doing this is to attempt to dramatize some sort of duplicity in a man who . . . I’ve known John McCain for a long time,” he said. “He always said he was a conservative. He was a conservative. He is a conservative. It seems that people should take John McCain for what he says he is.”

McCain’s memorial will also include eulogies from a number of politicians from both sides of the aisle including George W. Bush, Barack Obama,Henry Kissinger, and members of the McCain family. At present, notably absent from the docket is Donald Trump, who often publicly butt heads with the senator. It’s been reported that before his death, McCain requested that Trump not attend or speak during the service.

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Future senator John S. McCain III as a young boy with his grandfather Vice Admiral John S. McCain Sr. and father Commander John S. McCain Jr.

Photo: By Terry Ashe/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images.

McCain, here in his late 20s, poses with his U.S. Navy squadron in 1965.

Photo: From National Archives/Reuters.

McCain is pulled from the water by North Vietnamese soldiers and civilians after his A-4E Skyhawk was shot down over Hanoi, in October 1967. The force of his ejection from his fighter plane broke both his arms and one of his legs. After nearly drowning, McCain was beat up by a mob before being transported to the so-called Hanoi Hilton, a prison where he was held with other American POWs for more than five years.

Photo: From Getty Images.

McCain being examined by a Vietnamese doctor in 1967 after his Navy warplane was shot down during the Vietnam War. McCain, who broke both arms when he ejected from his plane, said that he was beaten by an angry mob and bayoneted in the groin upon his capture.

Photo: From AFP/Getty Images.

Flanked by their wives, Cindy McCain and Michelle Obama, Senators and presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama shake hands following their debate in Hempstead, New York, on October 15, 2008.

Photo: By Damon Winter/The New York Times/Redux.

McCain salutes NATO soldiers at ISAF H.Q. in Kabul, Afghanistan, on July 4, 2017. He visited the headquarters of the NATO-led mission after his visit at Pakistan. An irrepressible believer in U.S. hegemony as a force for good in the world, McCain remained a passionate supporter of the military and military intervention throughout his political career, championing the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the importance of the NATO alliance.

Photo: By Haroon Sabawoon/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images.

A portrait of Senator John McCain as he poses in the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., July 1996. McCain died on Saturday, August 25, 2018, at his home in Arizona, after a long battle with cancer. He was 81.

Photo: By Ted Thai/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images.

Future senator John S. McCain III as a young boy with his grandfather Vice Admiral John S. McCain Sr. and father Commander John S. McCain Jr.

By Terry Ashe/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images.

McCain, here in his late 20s, poses with his U.S. Navy squadron in 1965.

From National Archives/Reuters.

McCain is pulled from the water by North Vietnamese soldiers and civilians after his A-4E Skyhawk was shot down over Hanoi, in October 1967. The force of his ejection from his fighter plane broke both his arms and one of his legs. After nearly drowning, McCain was beat up by a mob before being transported to the so-called Hanoi Hilton, a prison where he was held with other American POWs for more than five years.

From Getty Images.

McCain being examined by a Vietnamese doctor in 1967 after his Navy warplane was shot down during the Vietnam War. McCain, who broke both arms when he ejected from his plane, said that he was beaten by an angry mob and bayoneted in the groin upon his capture.

From AFP/Getty Images.

McCain is welcomed home by President Richard Nixon on May 24, 1973, in Washington, D.C. Upon his return, McCain became an ardent supporter of Nixon’s management of the war, and used his celebrity to support the administration. He made his first foray into politics by working for Ronald Reagan’s 1976 Republican primary campaign, before launching his own campaign for an open seat in Arizona’s 1st congressional district in 1982.

From Getty Images.

Vice President George H.W. Bush swears in McCain and his family.

By Cynthia Johnson/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images.

McCain, along with his wife, Cindy, meet with reporters at Capitol Hill after McCain testified before the Senate Ethics Committee as part of an ethics investigation involving Charles Keating. McCain told the committee that he intended no wrongdoing in his tardy payments for flights on Keating’s planes, and was let off with a slap on the wrist. McCain later dedicated himself to campaign-finance reform.

By John Duricka/AP/REX/Shutterstock.

Senator John Kerry, a fellow Vietnam War veteran, chats with Senator John McCain in Washington, D.C., in 1997. The two briefly considered running for president together on a bipartisan ticket.

By David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images.

McCain campaigns for president in front of a Dartmouth College frat house, on January 31, 2000, in Hanover, New Hampshire. His campaign was known as the “Straight Talk Express.”

By David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images.

Presidential candidate John McCain manning the barbecue at the McCain family ranch, March 9, 2000, near Sedona, Arizona.

By David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images.

Senator McCain joins presidential candidate George W. Bush after losing to him in the Republican primary in 2000.

By Brooks Kraft/Sygma/Getty Images.

McCain at a rally in the park with his family, from left to right: daughter Bridget, wife Cindy, sons Jack and Jimmy, and daughter Meghan, January 31, 2000, in Keene, New Hampshire.

By David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images.

Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator McCain listen to President George W. Bush speak during the National Prayer Breakfast in February 2007 in Washington, D.C.

By BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images.

McCain stands on the stage with Republican U.S vice-presidential nominee Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on day four of the Republican National Convention, where he accepted the G.O.P. nomination for president in September 2008. McCain went on to lose the election to Barack Obama, and Palin went on to become a controversial Tea Party superstar.

By Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

Flanked by their wives, Cindy McCain and Michelle Obama, Senators and presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama shake hands following their debate in Hempstead, New York, on October 15, 2008.

By Damon Winter/The New York Times/Redux.

McCain salutes NATO soldiers at ISAF H.Q. in Kabul, Afghanistan, on July 4, 2017. He visited the headquarters of the NATO-led mission after his visit at Pakistan. An irrepressible believer in U.S. hegemony as a force for good in the world, McCain remained a passionate supporter of the military and military intervention throughout his political career, championing the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the importance of the NATO alliance.

By Haroon Sabawoon/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images.

A portrait of Senator John McCain as he poses in the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., July 1996. McCain died on Saturday, August 25, 2018, at his home in Arizona, after a long battle with cancer. He was 81.